Fight Through It
by Bossy Mossy
Summary: "I promise. It'll get better. It'll get better for both of us." They both needed a way out, and, to a lesser degree, they needed each other. It'd be tough, but they'd fight through it. Flinx, based off of a oneshot.
1. Prologue

Hello all! This is an expansion on my oneshot, A House, A Home. You don't have to read that to understand this. I just... liked the idea and it's been festering, so hopefully it won't be too bad.  
>Enjoy I hope!<p>

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><p>"You're living <em>where?"<em>

"Uncle Barry -" His breath caught in his throat, a sigh escaping his lips, "just... you have to hear me out, okay?" The room was dark, his silhouette blown up and casting shadows on the wall, a laptop sitting on his knees. A glance to the make-shift bed that occupied the tiny room, making sure that his uncle's outburst hadn't woken the pink-haired witch, before he glanced back at his laptop.

"Who is in your house?"

Wally couldn't help but wince. His uncle was a forensic scientist - on top of being The Flash - and he'd been foolish to think the man wouldn't acknowledge the look he'd cast and the way his nephew was attempting to keep his voice down as a hint for something bigger.

"...Please, Bare," He asked, voice barely a whisper, looking at the face of his mentor where it was blown up on the screen. It was grainy at best, and lagged whenever the man moved, but he could see the man's eyebrows knit and a frown settle on his features. He looked tired, worn out; Wally caught a glimpse of scarlet red around his neck and realized he'd caught his uncle right after a patrol of some sorts. "You know how my dad is... I just... wasn't going to take it anymore. I - I just left. I took everything that I could and found this place, and then I met her -"

"You're sharing a bedroom with a _girl_?"

A dry laugh, and Wally shook his head, a smile forming on his face.

"If it had been my choice? Nah. Not with _her,_ at least. But... we've both come from bad circumstances. She needed a way out. I needed a way out. And I knew if I didn't bring her with me, she'd never get out on her own. She's fighting me tooth and nail... but I'll be damned if she goes back to the H.I.V.E."

"Who is she?" His uncle's eyes danced, glancing down at the keyboard that was just out of sight of the webcam.

"Jinny Luck, with an 'I' and not an 'E,'" Wally murmured, lips barely moving, "Alias, Jinx." As soon as Wally spoke her name he heard the tapping of fingers. Barry's eyes searched the screen, no doubt reading the criminal record and the girl's history.

"Petty theft. Breaking and entering. Attempted arson. ...Are you sure you know what you're doing, Wally?"

"...Honestly?" He sat back against the wall, flinching in surprise as the radiator he was sitting next to groaned and attempted to emit heat. "No. No, I don't. I know I could have come to you, but that would have been the first place that my parents would have looked... and then they would have checked the Tower. I just... need a break. I need to do this. And I needed to save her. For better or worse, I guess."

The blond man's fingers drummed against the keyboard again; there was a stretch of silence, before he sat back, much like his nephew was doing, and ran a hand through his hair.

"I went into the credit system for the Titans and upped your monthly allowance by fifty dollars. Until she can prove herself to the League - until Robin deems her good enough to be a Titan - she will not be getting any pay for housing. I'll drop by your house tomorrow while your folks are at work and collect the rest of your things, and I'll swing by around... four. And you're going to explain this whole deal with me and I _am_ going to meet this girl, got it?" His uncle's voice was gone, replaced with the Flash's authoritative tone, taking no excuses. It was enough to cause Wally to chuckle.

"Yeah." The sudden sound of his - their - alarm clock going off caused Wally to pause and look out the window above his head, suddenly realizing the time of day. The sun was slowly rising outside through the blinds, and it seemed it had quieted in the run-down neighborhood they lived in. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow, Bare."

"Just... be careful, okay?"

"...I'll try."

The half-hearted smile and the exhaustion written on his nephew's face as he turned off his webcam, screen black, caused Barry to sigh and run a hand over his bleary eyes.

"Oh, Kid," he murmured, standing up from his computer desk and stretching, his muscles protesting and joints cracking. The papers at his desk ruffled; his Flash suit abruptly changing into his civilian clothing. With the slowness of someone trying to gather his thoughts, Barry pulled his shoes on, lacing them methodically, before heading out his bedroom door, a question looming in the air as he left.

"What've you gotten yourself into now?"


	2. Chapter 1

I'd like to note that I go with the continuity that Wally's dad isn't the greatest person in the world. Since I have not read many of the comics involving his dad, I'm not sure if he's physically and/or vocally abusive, so I am going with what I have gathered from Tumblr.

Enjoy.

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><p>"Would you like some breakfast?"<p>

The silence between the two of them was stifling; there was a soft sizzling from the pan that Wally was currently nursing, a slam as the refrigerator door came to a close, a soft creak as Jinx opened a cabinet door. The kitchen was barely big enough for two people, a small table pressed up against one wall and the appliances running down the other, the walls painted an avocado green (_vomit_, Jinx called it on their first day in the house, nose wrinkled in disgust and her lip drawn._ The shade of vomit_.)

"I don't eat meat," she murmured, fingers swiping desperately at the shelf of cups. She put the jug of orange juice down on the counter, using the free hand as leverage in her attempt to reach a glass.

"I made you a ham sandwich yesterday." Wally's voice was passive, opposing her statement but lacking the argumentative tone. He sighed, glancing over at the girl next to him, watching her struggle without saying a word. She'd stood up onto her toes, her fingers snagging the edge of a plastic cup and sliding it to the edge.

"I just don't want some greasy ass bacon, okay?" She snapped, fixing her cat-like eyes on him, teeth bared. The light above the stove flickered as she raised her voice, the cup teetering and falling from the shelf edge. Before she could even move to keep it from falling to the floor, it appeared on the counter, seemingly disappearing from the air and landing soundlessly on the counter top next to her orange juice.

There was a momentary pause, the bacon sizzling in the background, before a defeated sigh and a murmured _thanks_ from the girl. She returned the carton of juice to the fridge, taking a seat at the small table. There weren't any words exchanged between the pair for several minutes; Wally got a pair of plates out from the cabinet that Jinx had just struggled to reach, getting into the fridge and withdrawing some eggs.

"Did you take ballet as a little girl?"

"...Excuse me?" She looked up from the table, her head having been resting on her arms, and when she spoke she tilted her head towards him. He didn't share the gesture, his back to her.

"Did you take ballet?"

It was a safe topic, something harmless, Wally had decided, catching the girl off guard. He slid the bacon out of the skillet, onto a paper towel-covered plate, and proceeded to crack the eggs into the bacon grease. It hissed, and for a moment it overtook the girl's soft response.

"...for a few years. It was a while ago. How'd you guess?"

Kid Flash hummed a response - "You stood on your toes... -" finally glancing over his shoulder to look at her, a smile on his face. It was shy, reserved, unlike the rowdy boy, but it was his attempt at keeping the peace. The eggs cooked, and he divided them onto the two plates he'd gotten out, piling bacon onto one and putting a few pieces onto the smaller of the two plates. He turned the stove off, turning around and placing the plates on the table before seating himself.

Jinx knew he was making a deliberate attempt, his gaze purposefully adverted to his own plate. There was nothing but silence between the two, the skillet's sizzling dying as it cooled, the clock on the wall clicking rhythmically. Just as Wally was about to admit defeat, he heard the sound of a long exhale and then, the scratch of silverware against glass.

Wally smiled and followed suit.

* * *

><p>He heard Barry's truck rumbling idle and had to fight against his senses to run outside to greet him. The neighborhood had made Wally more jumpy than he was used to, and he found himself fighting to wait for the man to knock before he opened the door. It was like hours for the speedster, who was unused to having to hesitate for anything, but he had to keep reminding himself that they were in a civilian neighborhood.<p>

He'd been in the house two weeks and he had shown more restraint over his speed in the fourteen days than he had in seven years.

The knock; in a second the door had opened, Barry's hand still poised at the door, his nephew standing in the door frame with a grin on his face. "Hey, Uncle Barry," Wally said, shying away from the hand that threatened to ruffle his hair.

"Hey, kid."

He grunted when the hand clapped against his shoulder - maybe he should have taken the hair ruffle instead - and with a wheeze of laughter he moved out of the door way so Barry could come inside.

The man raised his eyebrows, and without either of them having to say a word, Wally jerked his thumb in the direction of his housemate, shutting the door behind the towering man.

When Barry walked in the teenager's front door, he was met with the strong smell of burnt food and acrylic paint. The trashcan in the kitchen was full of black cookies, he could see from where he stood. Sheets of newspaper covered the floor by the space between the kitchen's entryway and what he assumed to be either the bathroom or their bedroom door, and there among the newspaper stood the broken, pink-haired villain his nephew had taken in.

She had her hands on her hips, a paintbrush in one clenched fist, the beginnings of what looked to be a life-sized painting beginning on the wall. He could see where she had made pencil marks for where shading was meant to go. Just like that, she suddenly moved, dipping the paintbrush into one of the small containers she had on the floor and making a bold streak across the white wall.

Her hair wasn't up in the pigtails that he had observed in the Teen Titan's security footage archive, and without the dark clothing and thick heels, she was far less imposing than her villainous self. The Flash could even go as far as to say she appeared childish, her feet covered in brightly colored socks and the legs of over sized sweats pooling around them. There was a touch of concentration on her face, toes digging into the newspaper on the floor and causing a rustling noise.

He stared her down, taking in the girl like he would a potential threat, like he would evidence he'd have to pull apart and examine for a murder case.

"Uncle Barry," Wally said, oblivious to the way his uncle was looking at the ex-H.I.V.E. member as he locked the front door and turned around, "This is my friend Jinny. Jinny, this is my uncle. He brought some things over from my...parent's house."

Any sense of innocence Barry had given her, vanished as soon as she turned to face him, her eyes half-lidded and the expression on her face far more comprehending than he was comfortable to admit. He'd already given his nephew's house mate too little credit. She was a teenage girl, but she wasn't ignorant, and if he were to take anything from the sudden quirk of her lips and the humored flare in her eyes, it was that maybe he'd come across a little too hostile.

"It's nice to meet you," she said, setting her paintbrush in it's container and wiping her hands on her pants. The few steps over were far too slow for Barry's tastes, languid almost, as if she were mocking him, and she surprised him by sticking her hand out for him to shake. "Wally told me you were coming over earlier. I tried to make some cookies..." The smile was forced, even he could tell, and from the relieved sigh behind him he knew that Wally taken the expression far too easily. "..But I'm not much of a cook, you see."

Barry took her hand. As soon as her fragile, petite fingers wrapped around his own and squeezed, he frowned. It was followed by a hollow laugh, completely for Wally's sake, and the force he applied in return was perhaps less civilian than he would have liked. "It was a nice thought," he said.

"Well, I try to be a nice person." She let go all at once, making her way to the front door. "I'm gonna go bring in your things, okay, Wally?"

"Yeah, sure. Just, be careful."

He got a simple hum in return and as the door clicked behind her, there was a rush of air, Wally reappearing in their kitchen. Barry wasn't too far behind.

"...I s'pose this is when I'm supposed to tell you what happened with my dad, right?" The redhead asked, leaning into their fridge and withdrawing a pair of cans for the two of them, tossing one to Barry.

"I had a talk with him already," Barry murmured, pulling a chair out from the table and turning it around, taking a seat and using the back of the chair as an armrest. His sidekick hopped onto the counter, swinging his legs in a way the other identified as nervousness. "But you know I take his stories with a grain of salt. You _want_ to tell me what happened?"

Wally had tilted his head back against the cabinet; he rolled his eyes down to face the blond, shrugging slightly. There was a stretch of silence before Wally chose to speak.

"...I told him about how Dick decided to open another Titan tower, closer to Central City, so we could spread out and gather some more information on crime rings and see if anything intermingles, you know? Always the Batman's kid," he snorted, a grin on his face, " he wasn't too concerned about us being so far from Jump. I mean, Jump's close to Gotham, and he always has Batman around if there's an absolute emergency. Star City's close to Central, so if there was an emergency, we'd have you and the Justice League Earth headquarters. We - er, Bumblebee, Aqualad, Speedy and some other kids - had all agreed on it and Dick had picked an area for the new tower to be built."

He paused as the door opened and Jinx came in, a box in her arms. She disappeared from sight, presumably putting the box in their bedroom, before flickering through the kitchen's doorway and going back outside.

"I thought he'd be happy that I'd be out of his hair and in my own place most nights, but he just got so goddamn _angry_ about how he'd have to deal with two of _us_ and the rest of my freak friends. He went on this thing about how I'm never going to amount to anything, I've ruined any potential I had as a human being by becoming a mutant, that... kind of stuff." He lead off.

Another pause. More footfalls, the door shutting again, and Wally ran a hand through his hair.

"I'd run into her a couple times already, given her the whole speech about becoming a Titan, and for a little bit I was sure she'd show up and do it on her own accord. I was responding to a break-in to a jewelry store -" Kid Flash's expression became confused for a moment, " - Robin had laughed and said Jinx was pulling a Catwoman, whatever that meant, and told me to go deal with it, so I did. And I know you're not supposed to take your feelings on the job, but I was just so frustrated and disgusted, and she was just - _just_ -"

He hung his head, and Barry knew what was next.

"I just told her everything. _Every little thing_. And you know what she told me? She said I'd already saved her once, it was her turn to return the favor. And she already had this place for herself and it wasn't much." He laughed," she said it was a piece of shit, but... I took it. I guess... I thought..." His words had slowed as his story came to a conclusion,"if she trusted me enough to give my offer a chance... I should trust her. I mean... you know?"

"...This doesn't make me like her any more," Barry murmured, shaking his head with a sigh.

"I... I know, Barry. I know."

"And it's not just Kid Flash that's involved now, you get that? Wally's involved, too."

"If it's any consultation, she's just as involved as I am."

"...What kind of a girl can't bake cookies?"

The incredulous tone in the older man's voice was enough for Wally to start giggling, his laughter turning to full chortles, and the sound of his wheezing snorts was enough for Barry to get involved.

"I can hear you, you know?" Jinx asked, appearing in the doorway with her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed as she glanced between the two males.

"I'm sorry, Jinx," Wally wheezed, shaking his head, oblivious to the way the pink-haired girl bristled and the way the light above their head flickered, "but... seriously. It's not that hard."

"I eat take-out for a living," she said, shrugging as she leaned against the wooden door frame. "It's not my fault I'm... lacking in the wife department."

There was a lull in their conversation, and Wally jumped off of the counter, letting out a low whistle. "Well, Uncle Barry, I gotta be unpacking. Thanks for bringing all that over, by the way," he said, a grin coming onto his face as his mentor stood from his chair and followed him out of the kitchen.

"It's no problem." Barry responded. "If you two ever need anything, don't hesitate to call, okay? Wally can put my number into your phone for safe keeping," he said, offering the girl a smile, a little less hostile than he had been an hour or so earlier. She didn't respond, moving so the Flash's frame shielded her from Wally's line of sight, her hands on her hips and a frown settling on her features.

"I don't trust you," she breathed, her eyes jumping back and forth between his own, and all at once her gaze hardened, her eyes flickering just like the light she'd messed with earlier.

Her statement sparked a bit of laughter from Barry, the man closing the distance between him and the villianess. There was a beat of silence before his large hand cupped the top of her head, ruffling the pink tresses without so much as a dirty look from the girl. After all, she was too busy stammering, her mouth open in surprise, fixing the man with a look that was as fearful and as hesitant as a homeless kitten.

"The feeling's mutual," he murmured. For a moment, the Flash realized he wasn't dealing with a convict. This wasn't the Joker or anything close, it was just a teenaged kid attempting to do the right thing and return the chance his nephew had given her. She was just protecting herself.

He wondered what she'd had to protect herself from to have become as hostile and as distrusting as she was.

"I'll see you later, Wally," he said. Jinx ducked out from under his hand, a huff escaping her lips. She turned, taking off across the living room. "It was nice meeting you, Jinny."

"...You, too, Barry," she hesitated, stopping in her tracks, but when she turned to look at the man all she heard was a rush of wind and a soft click from the door. She blinked.

"_Damn_, he's quick."

Wally couldn't help but smile.

"C'mon, let's unpack some of this stuff."


	3. Chapter 2

I had the first of this chapter done months ago... but it was getting the second half just how I needed it to be that took time. Sorry for the wait.

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><p>"Central City forensics department, how may I help you?"<p>

She paused, phone caught between her ear and her shoulder, breath caught in her throat. She felt a drop of paint fall onto her sock.

"Hello?"

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry," Jinx said, quickly re-adjusting the phone, putting her paint brush into the small tin at her feet. "May I - well, is there a... Barry Allen I may speak to?"

"Let me transfer you to his office," the lady at the other end chirped into her ear, and she could hear the static of silence as she was put on hold. She wasn't sure she'd ever been this afraid or worried over a person - Wally's uncle, for Pete's sake, just a forensic scientist, nothing special - but it had to be done.

She picked up her paintbrush again, making a wide arc across the less-than-pristine wall, vibrant green and earthy. Slowly but steadily the door frame and the wall between the kitchen and the bathroom door was becoming a tree, looming and full, full of green and yellow and red hues, curling around the top of the door frame as if a section of the tree was missing. She'd never used such a big canvas before, and she hadn't even given it a second thought when the two realized they had extra paint left over from their bedroom and the bathroom. They were all off-tinted; Wally had a knack for finding cheap things, and he had happened upon a clerk in their hardware store that had several cans of paint that hadn't mixed to be the exact color they had needed, and were going to be a waste. Some of the colors were ugly, but they could be salvaged.

All of them could be fixed in one way or another, Jinx knew, and with that in mind she had set to work several weeks ago, sketching and deciding what she had wanted to decorate their wall with. Wally had gotten to pick their bedroom color (it was... interesting, to say the least. Not that Jinx was complaining. A sunny shade of yellow was far better than the mustard-tone suit he wore daily.) and she had gotten full reign of the living room.

She was using it.

"Barry Allen," The flinch she had when he spoke, his deep baritone dragging her out of her thoughts, nearly caused her to cause a dip in the leaf she was painting. Cursing under her breath, she caught herself just in time to fix it before it was too late. "May I ask who's calling?"

"Um -"

This was a bad idea. A horrible, disgusting idea. Why had she even...

"Hi," she said, the tense, hesitant tone in her voice as obvious as the paint coating her pale fingers, "It's, uh... Jinny."

"Hey," he responded. She could faintly hear the chatter of fingers against a keyboard as he spoke to her, "I'm glad to see you took my offer. Whatcha need, kiddo?"

There was a bout of silence from Jinx again as she hesitated, rubbing the tip of her nose with one of her fingers and resuming the leaf she was working on.

"I, uh... Wally's been telling me an awful lot about you," Jinx murmured, nervous laughter erupting from the girl, "and... he told me you were a great cook. Since... I'm kind of... his mother and his wife and everything else rolled into one right now, it would be kind of useful if I could, you know, pick up my half of the chores." It was difficult, picking words that weren't completely telling of Wally's alter-ego, who was constantly running night patrols and coming to bed at two or three in the morning and still getting up early enough to make the two of them breakfast and get to his late morning classes. The boy never ceased to amaze her, even if she wouldn't admit it.

"I take it you can't cook, Jinny?"

"...Not at all. I..." There was a soft sigh, and even from the other end, Barry could hear the exhausted, exasperated notes. "I didn't exactly grow up in something as luxurious as this. I mean... this place isn't grand, but I'd love to be able to make Wally something _edible _when he comes home..."

There was a rumble of laughter from Barry, the soft clicking of the keyboard still in the background, like a steady drizzle of rain.

"I'll teach you," he proposed. There was a creak - a chair, perhaps? - and the clicking stopped, if only for a moment, and a breath of a sigh floated into the receiver. "I get off at noon. I know Wally doesn't get home from his classes until four. You think you can get cleaned up and get the kitchen ready in a half hour?"

"Uh, yeah," she said, and as she spoke, she was already feverishly packing up her paint and putting the closed containers against the wall. "Half hour sounds good. I - wait, are you assuming I'm dirty?"

"Well, you're painting, aren't you?"

The stunned silence on the other end left Barry laughing, and it was the last sound Jinx heard before he hung up. She let out a grunt of disapproval, turning the phone off and briskly walking towards the bathroom, deciding that her need to shower greatly overrode her want to grumble over his obvious amusement.

"Stupid Barry Allen. There is something not right in your head." Her words could be heard through the bathroom door as she shut it, opening an overhead cabinet and ripping a pair of towels from it's lower shelf and setting them on the toilet lid, before promptly yanking her clothes off. A half hour... she could be out of the shower by then, certainly, but dressed and presentable _and_ have the kitchen tidied up enough for use?

She doubted it, and judging by the dried paint on her fingers, the shower would take longer than she was hoping. The water was freezing and it elicited a gasp as soon as it touched her skin, but she tried to not pay it any mind (...even when it abruptly turned hot and began to fog up the room) as she scrubbed the paint off her hands and wrists. It felt like mere minutes, but Jinx knew she took her sweet time when it regarded showers, and as soon as the conditioner was out of her hair and the suds had completely washed from her body, she turned the water off, jumping out of the shower and gathering herself in her towels.

She twisted the door handle and headed to go into their bedroom, and as soon as she was safely in their makeshift room, the towel she had wrapped haphazardly around her was tossed to the ground, using the other to blotch water from her hair.

Jinx heard the rumble of Barry's truck, distinctive and loud and already familiar from the few times that he'd visited since Wally had moved in, and letting a curse fall from her lips she grabbed the nearest things to put on. Both were her roommates, sweatpants hanging precariously around her hips and a shirt far too baggy for her liking, and with quick fingers she rolled down the elastic of the sweats in an attempt to tighten them up and used an elastic to pull the shirt into a bunch on her hip.

She heard the rumble of his engine cut out, silencing. She grabbed a hair tie from the top of her dresser, tugging her hair up into a high ponytail, and just as she exited her room, the solid thuds against the door told her she'd cut it as close as she could.

"Coming!"

The floor squeaked in protest under Jinx's hurried footsteps. There was a moment as she reached the doorway, hesitating with her hand on the doorknob, almost as if rethinking her decision with the man.

What was she _thinking._ Maybe she trusted him a little more than she had in the few weeks she'd known him, but she still knew there was something off - something _wrong _about the man who claimed to be Wally's uncle - and even though she had a scarce idea of what it could be, it didn't make her any more comfortable with the man.

After all... if he was who she thought he was, and _he_ knew who _she_ had been... why hadn't he just come out and confronted her about it in the first place?

A sigh, and moments later the girl opened the door to the towering blond, a humble smile happening onto his features and what looked like a bag of groceries clasp in his hand.

"Hey, Barry," she said, opening the door further so the man could come in. "I.. didn't exactly have time to clean up the kitchen, but it shouldn't be too bad to work in."

"I'm sorry for the time crunch," he chuckled, a grin coming onto his face, almost as if there was a joke she was missing. "I wasn't sure what you were wanting to make, so I bought a few things. I know how Wally is with food."

"I think _everyone_ knows how Wally is with food..." Jinx murmured, shutting the door behind the man and listening to his heavy footfalls as he went into the kitchen. There was a moment of silence as the two took items out of the grocery bag, and with a soft hum, the pink-haired teen put her hands on her hips.

"Well," she stated. "Do you want... to bake?"

The man laughed, and she watched as he pulled the sleeves to his shirt up, making his way to the sink to wash his hands. "We can make whatever you want to make, Jinny."

"...Let's bake cupcakes."

* * *

><p>There was a stretch of silence, the kitchen fragrant from the items in the oven, heat wafting up from the radiator against the wall and Jinx sitting on the counter next to it in a desperate attempt to keep warm. The soft, even click of the kitchen timer and the hum of the electric radiator were the only noises for the longest time, until Jinx sighed, rolling her gaze to the man ahead of her.<p>

He'd taken a seat at the table, pulling it around backwards so both the back of the chair and himself faced her, arms crossed over the back and his chin resting on his forearms. It vaguely reminded her of Wally - the way he sat, precarious and exposed, but she knew better. She knew much better than to assume he would let himself be as exposed as an average person.

It didn't take a genius to figure out there was something off about the man, or maybe it was just the fact she had been around so many superheroes and villains in her life, but the cues were obvious. Painfully obvious.

It was the way he sat, letting his back be exposed in a way very human - but how he made sure to pin himself between the wall and the chair to keep any risks of an ambush at bay. The fridge was to his left, the table his right, but he wasn't fenced in. There was more than enough space, a clear route out of the room, if he needed it.

She'd noticed the callouses on his fingers while they cooked, and the prickly feeling of stubble on his arms when they'd crossed paths a little too closely in the row-style kitchen was an obvious indicator. Wally was the same way. His suit rendered him nearly hairless, the friction between the fabric and the skin leaving nothing but very fine hairs, but with how quickly his metabolism and his body worked, it didn't ever take long for the hair to begin to grow back. Haircuts were frequent - something she'd had to pick up, as he was hopeless with a pair of scissors and using an electric razor was out of the question - and it was obvious, looking at Barry, that he had given up any attempt at growing his hair out.

Maybe the man was dropping hints, or maybe he had allowed himself to be far too comfortable around her, just like she had with him. She wasn't certain. A smile began to creep onto her face. Barry stretched, letting out a bear-like yawn, and for that moment his eyes closed she reached back to the set of knives that were pushed against the back of the counter.

She watched it throw, and in the time it took for the blade to leave her fingers, he'd pinned her against the counter, rough, calloused palms closing her hands and pinning her between himself and the wall. There was a blink of time and she heard the noise of the knife hitting the wall, chipping the elderly paint, and falling onto the floor behind the chair he'd been sitting in.

"Well, Barry," Jinx drawled, eyes lazily glancing up to meet his own. They were aware, smoldering, furious and confused - and she took a moment to realize there was concern in his expression. Not for himself. For her.

For Wally.

"I'm usually not into older men, but... I'll make an exception for the _Flash._" She was whispering now, her tone devilish and dark, breathing into his neck. He still had her hands pinned behind her, using his broad chest as a barrier, but she could see two easy means - three easy means - of escape from where she was sitting. She could feel his jaw shift, clenching, relaxing, trying to gather his composure.

The gentle, wafting scent of the cupcakes floated between them, and the timer clicked aimlessly, oblivious to the tension in the air.

"Took you long enough to figure it out," His tone matched hers, jerking back from the warm breath tickling his throat, but he didn't allow himself to let her go. There was a crackle and the light fixture sputtered, pink electricity sparking and the towering man letting out a grunt. That half a second of vulnerability - it was enough for the gymnast, and as soon as she felt his grip loosen she was out of the way, sliding down between him and the counter and kicking at him.

No matter what she did, he was always quicker, and her electricity couldn't keep up. It couldn't. He snatched her up from her kick, holding her by the collar of Wally's shirt, and with an irritated sigh he tossed her into the same chair he'd just been sitting in.

If she hadn't been so stunned, she'd have collected herself, hitting the chair hard enough for it to momentarily rock back on it's hind legs. Just as soon as it touched back and balanced, he had her collar again. There was no means of escape, she realized. He'd put her between the kitchen table and the fridge, looming over her, using his brute strength to keep her pinned between the chair and his fist.

Her feet dangled off the ground just like the front half of the chair, and the kitchen timer continued to click, content.

"If you hurt my nephew," Barry snarled, hot words hitting her face, "If you think I'm going to let you hurt Wally, you are sorely mistaken. I don't know what you're using him for, but if you even believe for a moment - a _second_ - the time it takes for me to _get here_ - that I'm going to let him suffer, you are wrong." Her fingers twitched towards the knife on the floor, her gaze flickering just a moment. He moved in closer, his lips near her ear, and just as her fingers grazed the wooden handle of the butcher knife, Barry continued. "I am the fastest man _alive._ In the time it would take for you to grab that knife, I could have killed you in more ways than even I've heard of in the forensics lab. Don't even _bother._"

"What makes you think I want to _hurt_ him?" She snarled, spittle flying from her mouth, her eyes flashing violently. "What makes you assume I'm the _bad guy_?"

"Your criminal record -"

"_When was the first incident on that report?_"

He had backed up, eyes planted on her, hand still keeping her against the wall. "Five years ago."

"Do you know what _happened_ five years ago?"

_Click, click, click._ A smile, broken and devilish at the same time, happened onto Jinx's face, and for a moment, she simply laughed.

"You don't remember? Allow me to refresh your memory, _Flash._ There's an apartment complex downtown that recently finished remodeling. It's been in the works for four years. I lived in that apartment complex." A bite of laughter," Second floor, third room from the stairs. Do you know what happens when you've got a broken-down apartment complex with broken families and drunks and toddlers running around? Shit happens. A _lot_ of shit happens. It isn't safe for kids to be living in, especially when you've got a father who assumes you're illegitimate because you don't look like either of your parents and don't know how to act. I _wasn't safe._ You know what happens when I feel threatened?"

Her eyes flashed, and with a crack of glass, the light above their head exploded, shattering and glittering on the floor.

"_I break things._ Sometimes, electrical fires aren't by _accident._" Jinx drew in a breath, nostrils flaring, teeth clenched. "My powers were even more unstable than they are now. I caught an outlet on fire. It got the carpet and the curtains and you know what an eleven-year-old kid does when her drunk-ass father is screaming at her and a fire starts at her feet? She runs. And suddenly, she doesn't have a place to live and her father claims it was arson. I go to juvi for a while, and no one wants a pink-haired brat. I'm not safe to be around, apparently. And you know... sometimes, it's hard to get food and money to live on when you're a kid and you can't legally work."

"Your arrest record began with the arson... and continued a year later with the breaking and entering charges and petty theft."

"_Exactly._"

The trill of the timer going off broke the tense silence between the two of them. For several seconds, neither of them moved, and then slowly Jinx's feet grazed the floor and Barry stood upright.

"Make sure the cupcakes bounce back when you touch them, or they're not done yet." His voice was soft as he grabbed the broom and dustpan, sweeping up the glittering glass. The soft noises in the kitchen resumed, enveloping the silence. The dust pan knocking against the plastic waste bin, the sound of one of the oven's dials turning off and the squelch of the door opening, heat radiating and the delicate smell creeping into the room.

"Most of these villains..." Jinx said softly, pulling a oven mitt from the counter and using it as a potholder to get the cupcakes out of the oven, "...you must remember, most of the villains you face were kids once. We didn't start off as bad people. Not all of it is our fault." She shut the oven door, placing the tray on the stove. "We... we didn't pick the lives we were put into."

The heavy hand on the top of her head, ruffling her hair, was enough to cause her eyebrows to draw together and her nose to crinkle.

The tiled floor between her feet began to glitter, just like the shards of glass had done minutes earlier, and as she brought her hands up to rub her eyes, the hand on her head moved to her shoulder and softly guided her. Her forehead collided with his chest and her shoulders shook, stifling the noises, her hands covering her face weakly.

"You've had to be strong for too long, haven't you, Jinx?"

"It wasn't my fault, Barry. _It wasn't my fault_."

She shattered quicker than anything she'd ever broken.


End file.
